LifeChurch Livonia is one of our "home" churches, and it was great to have some of the members from their community with us in the jungle this week! Honestly, it felt like having family here and it was such an encouragement to us personally and missionally.
The team arrived in to Quito late Monday night and were blessed to be able to stay at a beautiful Hacienda! An Hacienda is a large, older house, that used to house THE WHOLE FAMILY! The team enjoyed the beautiful wood and antique character that the Hacienda had to offer! They had a delicious breakfast the next morning before heading out on their 9 hour bus ride to the jungle!
The team arrived in to Quito late Monday night and were blessed to be able to stay at a beautiful Hacienda! An Hacienda is a large, older house, that used to house THE WHOLE FAMILY! The team enjoyed the beautiful wood and antique character that the Hacienda had to offer! They had a delicious breakfast the next morning before heading out on their 9 hour bus ride to the jungle!
Road Trippin'
Even though Ecuador isn't a big country, we don't have highways like in the states. There is a nicely paved highway road to travel on, but it goes through all the cities and towns along the way. The team traveled, in a bus, 9 hours on Tuesday from Quito to Sucúa! While the 9 hours part wasn't their favorite, they did enjoy seeing the beautiful country side. Quito is quite mountainous, and as they made their way down to the jungle they were able to see the change in scenery and vegetation!
Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn...ummmm...NOT quite...
This wasn't your ordinary mission trip...the team chose to "Rough it" for their week stay to help the funds raised go towards the work/project. They stayed at an old Christian Camp that is on the same property as the foster home. The property is actually where the first Sucúa missionaries settled in the mid 1900s. The property was later converted to a Christian camp, complete with a kitchen, dining hall, cabins, and outdoor play area. The camp still gets used for retreats, but only about once a year.
The team slept in cabins that had bunk beds, and a small bathroom. There is running water (cold) and electricity on site. After a long, hard days work, the cold shower was the least of their worries!
It is hard to put into words what the camp/property really looks like, but hopefully these pictures will give you an idea.
The team slept in cabins that had bunk beds, and a small bathroom. There is running water (cold) and electricity on site. After a long, hard days work, the cold shower was the least of their worries!
It is hard to put into words what the camp/property really looks like, but hopefully these pictures will give you an idea.
The Daily Grind
The team had some BIG, HEAVY, and HARD work planned for the week and they put a lot of sweat and heart into getting it all accomplished!
The first day they tore down the existing wood that was there for the second story. However, it was old and rotten and many of the pieces were unsalvageable. The ladies DE-jungled the inside of the building. The team spent time welding the metal bases that were then used to start constructing the beams and framing for the second story. They also wood-framed the existing windows. It was a LOT of manual labor, but thankfully they were able to bring down a lot of power tools to help with the job.
We give God the glory for keeping everyone safe and for all the work that was done! With the help of the last two teams we've been able to decrease the amount of funds needed (now approx. $50,000) to finish phase 1 of the foster home!
The first day they tore down the existing wood that was there for the second story. However, it was old and rotten and many of the pieces were unsalvageable. The ladies DE-jungled the inside of the building. The team spent time welding the metal bases that were then used to start constructing the beams and framing for the second story. They also wood-framed the existing windows. It was a LOT of manual labor, but thankfully they were able to bring down a lot of power tools to help with the job.
We give God the glory for keeping everyone safe and for all the work that was done! With the help of the last two teams we've been able to decrease the amount of funds needed (now approx. $50,000) to finish phase 1 of the foster home!
God's Creation
Being that we (Roberto and Jill) live here day in, and day out, sometimes we forgot to "stop and smell the flowers" so to speak! Ecuador is actually a BEAUTIFUL country. The Amazon jungle is a precious reminder of just how amazing God is. We love having groups/visitors/new people around, because everything is new to them, and they ask a lot about the vegetation, the animals, the critters, the fruits, and what daily life is like...and it Reopens our eyes to our beautiful surroundings.
FUN and GAMES
While we like to work our teams hard, we also like to have fun! The team definitely earned some play time! We like that teams and visitors can experience little parts of Ecuador while they are here!
Well...since there isn't much to do in the jungle...no movie theatre, no public hang out places...Friday nights we usually come up with our own fun and invite the youth over to our house. Friday night we had a bonfire planned and had invited the youth out...but it rained. boo. Friday night the team got to have fun playing games, fellowshipping, and worshipping with some of our missionary friends from Macas and a couple of the youth kids.
Sunday, the team joined us for church in the morning, and then went to a native Shuar village where they learned about the Shuar culture, and hiked down to a waterfall!
The team headed back to Quito, and were able to enjoy seeing some sites around Quito. They went to Mitad del Mundo (the Equator), ate guinea pig, and went to an open market!
Well...since there isn't much to do in the jungle...no movie theatre, no public hang out places...Friday nights we usually come up with our own fun and invite the youth over to our house. Friday night we had a bonfire planned and had invited the youth out...but it rained. boo. Friday night the team got to have fun playing games, fellowshipping, and worshipping with some of our missionary friends from Macas and a couple of the youth kids.
Sunday, the team joined us for church in the morning, and then went to a native Shuar village where they learned about the Shuar culture, and hiked down to a waterfall!
The team headed back to Quito, and were able to enjoy seeing some sites around Quito. They went to Mitad del Mundo (the Equator), ate guinea pig, and went to an open market!